This blog is written by Mike Hamlyn, Faculty Director for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Computing Engineering and Technology at Staffordshire University. It's for me to point to items of interest that I find, and for staff and students to share their comments

there has been little change over the years about the reasons for non-continuation of studies

Yorke highlights the following pointers as a result of the study:

poor choice making by students applying to courses - institutions need to be accurate in describing what is on offer

quality of teaching - this can be poor enough to be the reason for leaving, especially for older students. The implication is that a mode of teaching and learning is needed whereby students are quickly engaged in academic work and provided formative feedback at an early stage, so that they can gain an appreciation of expectations. Four things follow form this: allocation of resources has to reflect importance of the first year;teaching approach must be centred on student development; mechanisms are needed to enhance chances of students developing a supportive network of peers and thoseteaching first years must have a strong commitment to teaching and student learning.

social integration - possible issues with local students who do not have the benefit of living in communal halls

resources - for some this was an issue, but most students were happy with the level of resources provided

managing expectations - programme organisation is seen to be key, especially in communicating details of cancelled teaching sessions. Management of student expectations is increasingly important and students need to know what they can expect, what the limitations of provision are and that they will be treated with consideration.

Two possible trends are identified:Although finance remains problematic for students, is maybe becoming less salient in thereaosns for students leaving. Secondly, there is a growing perception that the value for money students receive is dependent on the amount of staff engagement with them. This increasing consumer-like expectation on the part of students is a challenge for institutions on how to deal with "value for money".

Yorke concludes that institutions need to "bend the odds", in favour of student success, by reviewing policies and practice. "Students will not put up with what they perceive to be a poor quality experience when they are committing substantial amounts of money to their education."

The NUS has just published the results of a major survey into the student experience. The report covers everything from choosing a course and university and accommodation and welfare services to student employment and bullying.

In the category of choosing a university and course, 31 per cent of students were motivated to choose their university because it was close to home; however, in the lowest socio-economic groups (D and E), this figure rose to 53 per cent.

For our Faculty, over 50% of undergraduate students in Stoke are from Staffordshire LEA, whereas the figure for the Stafford campus is about 20%.

In regards to coursework and feedback, however, 25 per cent of students had to wait more than five weeks for feedback on their coursework. Only 25 per cent of students received verbal feedback on their assessments. I think we all know our students' view fo feedback, based on results of Viewfinder and NSS!